The use of the mouse in the WinTess3 program is normal as in the majority of programs. However, it may be interesting to mention a little about its functioning in some graphics appearance.

The program is at rest when not performing any action. We know it because in this situation the mouse cursor is the default and no phase is indicated in the status line.

Movement of the mouse (if no buttons pressed)

    • When we move the mouse across the screen in which there is a structure drawn in the resting phase, when hovering over a node, a bar or an element, these are highlighted indicating that the program has selected a node, a bar or an element. In the right side of the status line, we can see the number of node, bar or element selected.

Drag the mouse (with the left button pressed)

    • Rotation
      Even if the program is at rest, the structure can be rotated on the screen. A horizontal mouse movement means a rotation on a vertical axis parallel to the screen, while a vertical movement means a rotation on a horizontal axis parallel to the screen.
      We can perform these same rotations by ←↑↓→ keys. This is very important, because it allows us to rotate the image even in cases in which the cursor is a pointing finger due to an already selected node, bar, etc. and we can’t use the mouse to rotate the image.
    • Selection window
      at some stage, if the program expects us to select some object, the cursor changes to the form of pointing finger. In this case, the drag of the mouse produces a selection window.
      – If the drag occurs to the right,  only the objects that are entirely within the window are selected.
      – If the drag occurs to the left, both of the elements that fall entirely and partly within the window are selected
    • Translation
      If we drag the mouse with the Ctrl or Shift or Alt keys, it moves the structure on the screen, instead of rotating. This is very useful when using a mouse without wheel or central button. We can also move using the buttons on the right .

Drag the mouse while wheel or the middle button pressed. (Windows only)

Translation
It displaces the image on the screen (panning).
It can also be run using buttons on the right .

Rotation of the central wheel

    • Zoom
      Rotating center wheel of the mouse produces a zoom of the image. We can also perform this same type of zoom with the buttons on the right .

Press

    • Left button
      Pressing the left mouse button on a selected (highlighted in magenta/green) node or a bar opens the information window of this node or bar. If there is no highlighted node or bar, then it displays the information of the object selected: element, cable, tube, etc. If there is nothing at the point clicked, nothing happens.
    • Right button
      We use the right button to finish what we are doing. For example, if we are selecting nodes, bars, etc., clicking the right mouse button ends the selection and passes the control to the task for which we were selecting the objects.We also use the right button to return the program to its resting state. One way to know if the program is at rest is to check that if the cursor is the usual arrow and that if text indicating the phase in the status line is blank. Finally, pressing on a node or a bar displays a pop-up menu that allows you to perform a series of operations on this node or bar.